republic of letters

noun

1. the collective body of literary people.
2. literature.

Word History and Origins

Origin of republic of letters¹

First recorded in 1695–1705

Example Sentences

The republic of letters has fallen under a sustained assault by prestige TV and the immediacy of the iPhone; we dwell now in the empire of almighty statistics, where inputs and outputs rule.

From Los Angeles Times

Studies of the “Republic of Letters,” populated by enemies of religious and state absolutism in the late 17th century, go back at least to Paul Hazard’s “The Crisis of the European Mind,” and Franco Venturi’s 1960 “Roots of Revolution” mapped the perfervid world of 19th-century Russian populists.

From New York Times

Beckerman scours scientific correspondence from Europe’s Republic of Letters, parses Twitter debates by Black Lives Matter Twitter activists, tracks Soviet-era samizdat writings and revels in 1990s Riot Grrrl zines, to name just a few of the movements and moments he considers, delving into the principles and grievances behind them all.

From Washington Post

Indeed, we may say that the new science aspired to the creation of that social sphere which was idealized in the seventeenth century as ‘the republic of letters’ and which the eighteenth century was to label ‘civil society’.

From Literature

He could not imagine turning the republic of letters into a vast law court.

From Literature